Sweetbriar Rose - Cultivar

Sweetbriar Rose is a band of rootsy, thorny, rose-hipped gypsies who you're equally likely to glimpse running in full sun, barefoot on a field of bluegrass, brooding in three-part harmony over a murder ballad in a shady grove, or channeling the spirit of a 1940's Balkan jazz joint. If you heard them through the wall, you might imagine a stray melody from the carnival caravan was whirling and beckoning just on the other side of the darkened woods. Their dynamic performances of original music mix solid Americana tinged with Eastern European folk and jazz, whispers and shouts, foot-stomping and finger-picking, crooning and wailing. The multi-petaled flowers of Sweetbriar Rose include guitar, mandolin, keyboard, and upright bass, and haunting, layered harmonies are central part of their act. After five years of playing in and around New York City and another five years in the all-woman old-timey country outfit The Estelles, front woman Heather Shayne Blakeslee formed Sweetbriar Rose to showcase a broader range of her songwriting. Her sultry vocals and literate songwriting are backed by a bevy of talented musicians including long-time collaborator and piano pedagogue Joy Thiessen (The Estelles), all-around artist and bassist Shane Leddy (Wes Mattheu & the New Way Down, The Muffinman is a Band), Martian and mandolin enthusiast EJ Simpson (Maggie, Pierce & EJ, The Goats), as well as special guests from time to time that include singer-songwriter Jaclyn Marie, Swedeland front woman Morgan Pinkstone, drummer Walter Foley, and guitarist Joe Terry, aka The Muffinman. After two years of regular shows in and around the Philadelphia region together and a successful original performance piece for the 2011 Philadelphia Fringe Festival to their credit, they'll release their first album in May of 2013. Native to Philadelphia, the hardy Sweetbriar Rose thrives in urban dive bars, church yards, apple orchards, festivals, urbane surburban coffee shops, theatres, backyard gardens, and the occasional living room. Sweetbriar rose hips, the fall fruit, are excellent company and nourishment to birds, and members have been seen coexisting with local songsters such as Hezekiah Jones, Sisters Three, Tin Bird Choir, The Great Unknown, Wissahickon Chicken Shack, Cowmuddy, Psalmships, and other Philadelphia natives. Sweetbriar has been influenced by non-native species including Neko Case, Sam Phillips, and Gillian Welch.

1) Lily of the Valley
2) Sweetbriar Rose
3) Sing with Me Now
4) T'other Little Tune
5) No One Knows
6) Bride to the Sound
7) Serpent ; Sparrow
8) A Simple Sound
9) We Don't Dream
10) This Is How